Section 377 of the Indian penal code, enacted by British rulers in 1861, banned “carnal intercourse against the order of nature”.

Activists had been fighting the ban since the 1990s, suffering several court reverses before Thursday’s verdict which sparked celebrations among lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender groups across the vast South Asian nation.

Members of the LGBT community hugged each other and cried as news of the verdict spread.

“I am speechless! It’s taken a long time to come but finally I can say I am free and I have equal rights as others,” said Rama Vij, a college student who wore a rainbow scarf.

Gay sex has long been taboo in conservative India — particularly in rural areas where homophobia is widespread.

The Delhi High Court decriminalised gay sex in 2009, but the Supreme Court reinstated legal sanctions in 2014 after a successful appeal by religious groups.

According to official data, 2,187 cases under Section 377 were registered in 2016 under the category of “unnatural offences”.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, said the arrest was based on intelligence from men of the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Corps.

Imohimi said on receipt of the information, the Divisional Police Officers of the Shasha and Idimu divisions, were ordered to investigate the claim that some youths would be initiated into a “gay/homosexual club.”

He said, “The DPOs stormed the venue around 2am. On arrival, young men, numbering over 80, were met in a hall taking different types of drinks, including Tramadol and Shisha laced with substances suspected to be marijuana. As soon as they sighted the police, they ran in different directions. However, the team arrested 57 of them.

“There is something very worrisome about the arrest. Although being a gay contravenes Section 1, sub-section 1 of Same Sex Marriage Act of 2014, it is a threat to the moral fabric of our society. Even though homosexualism is an offence, arranging elaborate initiation rites for young men as homosexuals is, to say the least, very worrisome.”

The arrested suspects, however, denied the allegation, saying they were not gays.

They added that the police did not give them a chance to defend themselves.

One of the suspects, Smart Joel, said he was at the hotel to give himself a treat on his birthday.

The 25-year-old Imo State undergraduate claimed that he had a girlfriend.

He said, “I am not a member of any gay club; I have a girlfriend. I have sex with ladies.

“I had visited the venue two years ago for a wedding ceremony and I liked the environment. Saturday was my birthday. I went there to have some drinks when I noticed that a party was going on in the event hall. Around 2am, I noticed that some guys were running. I had to run because in Nigeria, when you see people running, you have to also run for your life.

“I noticed that the policemen had invaded the premises of the hotel. They gathered everyone from the bar, club and hall. I got to know that it was a birthday party that was going on there. The police did not listen to anyone.”

Another suspect, Obialo James, 20, who claimed to be HIV positive, said the police did not show any concern for his medical condition.

The Imo State indigene said, “I am not a gay; I went there to perform because I am a dancer. Is being a dancer a crime? They have been beating me so that I can say I am a gay. Even when I told them that I was HIV positive, they did not care. I contracted the disease from my mother during pregnancy. Instead, they locked me up. I have not taken my drugs today.”

Another suspect, Odika Emmanuel, 25, said he did not understand why the police separated the ladies from the men during the arrest.

“It was yesterday (Sunday) when we were writing our statement that the police told us our offences. Is that how the police operate in Lagos? I was there for a birthday party. There were a lot of ladies there,” he added.

Meanwhile, family members of one of the arrested suspects, Amaechi Edeh, said the suspect was not a gay.

Amaechi’s younger brother, Ejike, said the suspect had three girlfriends.

He said, “My brother is not such a person. We live together; he has three girlfriends that I know.”

Another 78-year-old family member, who identified himself as Ejeh, said Amaechi could never be gay.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police said all the 57 suspects were being investigated and would be charged to court at the end of investigation.

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A Lutheran pastor takes part in a demonstration in front of the Supreme Court of Justice in San Jose, on August 04, 2018, to demand the legalisation of same-sex marriage.

Protesters demand Costa Rica enforce its commitment to international treaties, based on the response given by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (ICHR) on last January 9 saying the country must guarantee marriage between same-sex couples.

The intervention of the police in Anambra State has saved the principal of Seat of Wisdom Secondary School, Okija, in Ihiala Local Government Area of the state, Modestus Eze, from being lynched by some youths of the area.

Punch Metro gathered that the youths had trooped to the school to attack the principal when they heard that he had canal knowledge of a 17-year male student of the school.

It was gathered that amidst the confusion that ensued, policemen attached to the Okija police division stormed the school and cordoned off the place.

A source who craved anonymity told our correspondent that,”It was the police that saved the man. He would have been dead by now. He has been doing this for years now.

“We learnt that amidst the confusion that ensued the man escaped to an unknown destination.”

The Anambra State Public Relations Officer, Haruna Umar, confirmed the story.

He said,”There was a reported case of unnatural offence against one Modestus Eze, Principal of Seat of Wisdom Secondary School, Okija.

“The suspect allegedly had an unlawful carnal knowledge against the order of nature with a male student of 17 years old.

“The scene was visited by Police detectives attached to the Okija Division and the victim taken to the hospital for medical examination.

He added,”Some charms and Juju deities spread with a red substance suspected to be fresh blood were also discovered in some isolated rooms within the school premises.

“It took the intervention of the Divisional Police Officer and some eminent persons in the area to restore normalcy and pacify the rampaging youths from taking the laws into their hands.

“The Suspect is still on the run and efforts are being intensified to apprehend him in order to bring him to Justice.”

He said the school had been cordoned off by the Police while an investigation was ongoing.

Indonesia is pushing to clamp down on gay and pre-marital sex as part of a sweeping criminal law overhaul that critics blame on a wave of religious fundamentalism sweeping across the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation.

The proposed shake up — which also takes aim at condom use and adultery — is winning unprecedented support ahead of 2019 presidential elections, after earlier attempts to shake up Indonesia’s Dutch-colonial era laws fizzled.

Parliament is drawing up the new code with all the major political parties reportedly on board and the draft is expected to be tabled in the coming months.

Wide swathes of Indonesian society — including heterosexual couples who might face jail for having sex outside wedlock or having an affair — may be impacted if the laws pass.

But the Southeast Asian nation’s small LGBT community could feel the sting most.

“Some politicians see it as an opportunity to cater to the religious base,” said political analyst Yuventius Nicky.

“There’s this supposed morality threat that is being queer.”

Government officials, religious hardliners and influential Islamic groups have lined up to make anti-LGBT statements in public recently.

Last month, Google pulled one of the world’s largest gay dating apps from the Indonesian version of its online store in response to government demands.

And police have used a tough anti-pornography law to criminalise members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

Parliamentary speaker Bambang Soesatyo called this week for a crackdown on the community’s “excesses”, after the health ministry announced it would release a medical guide classifying homosexuality as a “mental disorder”.

Gay sex is currently legal everywhere in secular Indonesia except for Aceh where it is banned under the semi-autonomous province’s Islamic law.

– ‘Hateful rhetoric’ –

The UN human rights chief blasted Indonesia’s proposed laws and raised them in talks with President Joko Widodo this week.

“The hateful rhetoric against this (LGBT) community that is being cultivated seemingly for cynical political purposes will only deepen their suffering and create unnecessary divisions,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein told reporters.

“Any discriminatory provisions (in the new law) need to be removed,” he added.

The code’s latest draft carries a five-year jail term for extramarital sex or adultery, fuelling concerns that same-sex couples, who cannot marry in Indonesia, could be caught up in the dragnet.

It also carries penalties for “showing or offering contraception tools without authorisation” and calls for stiffer blasphemy sentences.

Supporters of the changes include the Family Love Alliance, a lobby group which made a failed attempt to get the constitutional court to outlaw extramarital and same-sex relations.

“Gay sex is deplorable,” Alliance leader Rita Soebagio told AFP.

But the new law “does not mean that many people would be arrested. It’s just like when the law on corruption was passed, not everybody was arrested for corruption”.

The US Supreme Court is to hear arguments on Tuesday in a case that has been described as the most significant for gay rights since it approved same-sex marriage two years ago.

The landmark case pits a gay couple, Dave Mullins and Charlie Craig, against a Colorado bakery owner who refused in July 2012 to make a cake for their same-sex wedding reception.

Jack Phillips, owner of “Masterpiece Cakeshop” in Lakewood, Colorado, cited his devout Christian beliefs in turning down their request for a cake.

“What a cake celebrating this event would communicate was a message that contradicts my deepest religious convictions,” Phillips wrote this week in USA Today.

“And as an artist, that’s just not something I’m able to do,” he said. “So I politely declined.”

Mullins, a 33-year-old poet and musician, and Craig, a 37-year-old interior designer, said they were emotionally devastated by the rejection and filed suit for discrimination.

“This case is not about artistic freedom,” Mullins told AFP. “We didn’t ask for a piece of art.

“We were simply turned away because of who we were,” he said. “We were publicly humiliated for who we were.”

The Colorado Civil Rights Commission and the state appeals court backed up Mullins and Craig. And now it’s in the hands of the nine-member Supreme Court which features a conservative justice, Neil Gorsuch, newly appointed by President Donald Trump.

Mullins, Craig and civil rights groups have warned that if Phillips is victorious, other businesses could cite religious beliefs to refuse service to gay customers.

“When you open a business to the public, you must serve the public equally,” Mullins said.

“If a business owner is allowed to turn someone away just for their strongly held beliefs, could a hotel owner turn away an interracial couple because their faith believes that the races where not meant to mix?” he asked.

“A loss at the Supreme Court could open the door to many forms of discrimination that have long been considered wrong in our society,” he said.

– ‘One man and one woman’ –
Phillips said he would be happy to sell Mullins and Craig a cake — just not a wedding cake that would conflict with his conviction that “God designed marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”

“Just as I shouldn’t be able to use the law to force others to design something that promotes my beliefs, others shouldn’t be able to force me to design a cake that celebrates theirs,” he added in USA Today.

Jeremy Tedesco, an attorney for Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal aid group representing Phillips, rejected the argument that the bakery owner’s stand is discriminatory.

“Jack offered to sell the two gentlemen suing him basically anything in his shop,” Tedesco told AFP. “Jack serves all who walk through his doors, no matter what their background or walk of life.

“But like other artists, he just can’t create all messages for all events,” he said. “Declining to express celebratory messages about same-sex marriages is simply not class-based discrimination.

“This case is about the freedom of artists and creative professionals to not be forced by the government to create custom expression or work for a message or event that violates who they are,” Tedesco said.

“To say that a Muslim, Jewish, or Christian artist can no longer adhere to the teachings of their faith and be forced by the government to create expression that violates their beliefs is scary,” he said.

“Jack and his family have faced death threats and government punishment,” he said. “In a truly free society, tolerance should be a two-way street.”

Some 20 states, dozens of members of Congress and Christian lobbyist groups have thrown their weight behind the baker.

The Trump administration has also argued that his cakes are a form of artistic expression and that he cannot be forced to use his talents against his own religious beliefs.

Among those representing Mullins and Craig is the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU.

“This isn’t about a cake,” said Louise Melling, the ACLU’s deputy legal director.

“This is a question about whether the Constitution protects the right to discriminate,” Melling said.

“It’s about whether the Constitution protects the right of a bakery to put up in its store window a sign that says ‘Wedding cakes for heterosexuals only,'” she said.

People should pray that Prince George is gay, a senior Scottish church minister has claimed.

Prince George is third in line to the British throne.

The Very Rev Kelvin Holdsworth, a provost of St Mary’s Cathedral in Glasgow, said if the four-year-old turns out to be gay, it would force support for same-sex marriage in the Church of England.

Holdsworth is a LGBTQ campaigner, and he made the comments in a blog, reposted after the announcement of the engagement between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

Rev Holdsworth wrote that Christians should pray “for the Lord to bless Prince George with a love, when he grows up, of a fine young gentleman.”

“If people don’t want to engage in campaigning in this way, they do in England have another unique option, which is to pray in the privacy of their hearts (or in public if they dare) for the Lord to bless Prince George with a love, when he grows up, of a fine young gentleman,” read the blog.

The comments, though, were immediately criticised.

Reverend Gavin Ashenden, a former chaplain to the Queen, described the comments as “profoundly un-Christian.”

He added that the comments were also “unkind” and a theological equivalent of the “curse of the wicked fairy in one of the fairy tales.”

“To pray for Prince George to grow up in that way, particularly when part of the expectation he will inherit is to produce a biological heir with a woman he loves, is to pray in a way that would disable and undermine his constitutional and personal role,” Rev. Ashenden told Christian Today.

Prince George, son of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, was born in 2013 and is third in line to the throne.(Yahoo News UK)

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, 93, who resigned on Tuesday, has a long history of making colourful or controversial remarks during a reign that has spanned nearly four decades.

Among them:

– On staying in office –“Some are saying ‘Mr Mugabe is old, so he should step down’… No! When my time comes, I will tell you.” 2014.

“Only God who appointed me will remove me — not the MDC (opposition), not the British.” 2008

– On coming to power –Mugabe’s speech when Zimbabwe won independence was more conciliatory.

“It could never be a correct justification that because the whites oppressed us yesterday when they had power, the blacks must oppress them today.” 1980

– On seizing farms –“You are now our enemies because you really have behaved as enemies of Zimbabwe. We are full of anger. Our entire community is angry and that is why we now have the war veterans seizing land.” 2000

– On Britain, former colonial ruler –“The British were brought up as a violent people, liars, scoundrels and crooks… I am told that (former British prime minister Tony) Blair was a troublesome little boy at school.” 2001

– On gay people –“Worse than pigs and dogs… Those who do it, we will say, they are wayward. It is just madness, insanity.” 2010

– On gay marriage –“(President Barack) Obama came to Africa saying Africa must allow gay marriages… God destroyed the Earth because of these sins. Weddings are for a man and a woman.” 2013

– On Nelson Mandela –“Mandela has gone a bit too far in doing good to the non-black communities, really in some cases at the expense of (blacks)… That’s being too saintly, too good.” 2013

– On Hitler –“I am still the Hitler of the time. This Hitler has only one objective, justice for his own people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people.

“If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold.” 2003

– On his affair –Before his first wife died in 1992, Mugabe started a relationship with Grace, whom he married in 1996.

“I wanted children and this is how I thought I could get them. I knew what I was doing and my wife knew.” 1998

– On colonialism –“African resources belong to Africa. Others may come to assist as our friends and allies, but no longer as colonisers or oppressors, no longer as racists.” 2015

– On death –False reports of Mugabe dying were a feature of his old age.

“I have died many times. That’s where I have beaten Christ. Christ died once and resurrected once. I have died and resurrected and I don’t know how many times I will die and resurrect.” 2012

– On resigning –“My decision to resign is voluntary on my part. It arises from my concern for the welfare of the people of Zimbabwe and my desire to ensure a smooth, peaceful and non-violent transfer of power that underpins national security, peace and stability,” he says in a resignation letter on November 21, 2017.

A South African court on Monday handed a $7,000 fine to former deputy minister after he pleaded guilty to assaulting three women in a nightclub after they referred to him as gay, a sentence that drew outrage from activists.

Mduduzi Manana, 33, quit his job in August as deputy minister for higher education after he was charged over the assault, which was caught on camera and circulated widely on social media.

A woman had accused him of kicking and punching her and two others at the exit of a nightclub in the early hours of August 6.

The women had had a drink with him and referred to him as gay.

In passing the sentence, Magistrate Ramsamy Reddy lambasted Manana saying the degree of violence displayed by Manana in a public space was not becoming of a person of his stature.

The magistrate said the incident had “undoubtedly caused the victims great trauma and humiliation” before he handed him a 100,000-rand fine — the equivalent of $6,878 — or an option of a 12-month sentence.

He also ordered him to perform 500 hours of community service and pay the medical costs incurred by the victims, as well as compensation for shoes and jewellery damaged in the incident.

Advocacy group Sonke Gender Justice slammed the sentence as “inappropriate and disappointing” — in a country where violence against women is endemic.

“The sentencing sets a bad precedent for people of Manana’s social standing, that if you have money you can simply get away with a fine,” said the group’s spokesman, Bafana Khumalo.

“A jail time would have been much an acceptable punishment,” he said.

A large group of supporters clad in the governing African National Congress (ANC) party filled the gallery and broke into song and dance after the sentencing.

Some women could be heard ululating in joy outside the courthouse, as Manana left the building.

Lawmakers this year voted to give Germany’s roughly 94,000 same-sex couples the right to marry, following a shift in position by Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Through the extension of existing marriage law to same-sex couples, gays and lesbians automatically gained the same tax advantages and adoption rights as other families.

Merkel had surprisingly allowed conservative MPs to follow their conscience on a gay marriage vote — the trigger for the rush to pass a bill before the parliament’s summer recess.

The German leader explained her thinking had changed after a “memorable experience” when she met a lesbian couple who had lovingly cared for eight foster children in her Baltic coast constituency.

Her shift in position — after 12 years of blockade by her Christian Democrats and their Bavarian allies — was seen by some as a tactical move to deprive her challengers of a popular campaign issue ahead of September’s election.